The Americans with Disabilities Act

Thank you for your comments and emails about how fighting the pain caused by wind. Yes, trigeminal neuralgia and other facial pain conditions are disabilities. It's important to know why. I'm going to provide a link where I pulled the information for this entry. Let's take a look at how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines disability:  

"Disability means, with respect to an individual, a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual; a record of such an impairment; or being regarded as having such an impairment."

Knowing what the ADA means by impairment is essential to understanding what a disability is.

"(1) The phrase physical or mental impairment means --

(i) Any physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one or more of the following body systems: neurological; musculoskeletal; special sense organs; respiratory, including speech organs; cardiovascular; reproductive; digestive; genitourinary; hemic and lymphatic; skin; and endocrine."

Trigeminal neuralgia is a neurological disorder, mentioned above: "anatomical loss affecting one or more of the following systems: neurological."

If we back up to look at how the ADA defines a disability, we see that the impairment must substantially limit a major life activity. Here is the definition for a "major life activity:"

 "(2) The phrase major life activities means functions such as caring for one's self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working."

Do you often have difficulty caring for yourself (cooking, brushing your teeth, entering an environment because of the wind)? Speaking? Working? 

Invisible disabilities, such as trigeminal neuralgia, are valid. Here's the link to the portion of the ADA quoted. Scroll down to Sec.36.104 Definitions Americans with Disabilities Act

Take good care!

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Trigeminal neuralgia, parking lots, and wind

Summer is here, making it a great time to prepare for cold weather that promises to arrive a few months from now.

On "handicapped" or accessible parking permits, we see a wheelchair. Yet most people who have these permits don't use a wheelchair. In fact, they may look perfectly healthy. And that's "permissible." After all, most people who have trigeminal neuralgia have been told that they look just fine. But it's not about how we appear to others.

Taking care of one's self sometimes means overlooking the scrutiny of the neighbor, a family member, and the guy in the parking lot who doesn't know us. It means self-advocating. As a certified rehabilitation counselor, I am here to help you find ways to advocate for yourself.

Every state in the U.S. has a unique form (usually found at the tag office) required for applicants of  "handicapped" or accessible parking permits. Most of the applications have a category for a physician to make a selection, saying that the individual has difficulty walking. Don't exclude yourself from this group. If you have trigeminal neuralgia, you have a neurological disorder that can cause a number of issues, including difficulty walking.

Think about this issue: when the wind hits your face and causes electrocution-type pains to slice through it, do you have difficulty walking? One time I asked a gentleman this, and he explained to me that he walks backward through the wind, allowing the back of his head to shield the wind. As he does this, he places another jacket over his face to protect him from the windy blasts. It's not a story that surprised me, but it saddened me. People who have invisible disabilities have rights, plenty of them. Sometimes we just have to fight a little harder to get the things we need.

Walking through a parking lot backwards is dangerous, and so is walking through one with a jacket over one's face. Cars come through parking lots, sometimes at a fast pace. Drivers are distracted with phone calls, text messages, and many other things. Most parking lots have precast concrete bumpers in some of the parking slots. It's easy, if our vision is obstructed, to stumble over them.

Accessible parking helped me get my master's degree. I had to park far from class. I was young and looked healthy, but I wrapped my face up in big scarves and went to class. I parked right outside the class door, making it possible to traverse the path from my vehicle to the building.

Do you have difficulty walking when the wind blows? If you have trigeminal neuralgia, the answer is probably yes. And the pain may be year round because the wind can howl any season.

You may want to talk to your doctor about accessible parking this summer, before your pain escalates and before flu season begins. A good way to approach this might be to make a few notes about what you do to protect yourself as you disembark from your vehicle and make your way across a parking lot to see a doctor, to buy medicine, or to get groceries. Sometimes a phone call to a doctor you have established good communication with will be sufficient. Other times, you may want to make an appointment. And if your physician says "no," ask another one.

Stay safe.

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